


TLCephalid (MtG Month of the Ship - Day 11: Sick)

by Wolkemesser



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Cephalids, F/F, Otaria, but i like it, the pairing is a bit of a reach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 12:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18637735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolkemesser/pseuds/Wolkemesser
Summary: This takes place after the events of Chainer's Torment, and with the assumption that Llawan survived the disaster of the riptide project.





	TLCephalid (MtG Month of the Ship - Day 11: Sick)

 

Veza knew that the empress would send someone to check in on her when she’d declined to attend a meeting with the vodalian ambassador. Llawan was more empathetic than most of her subjects knew, and of course, Veza was still one of her closest advisors.

What she hadn’t expected was for Llawan to come herself, all the way to Breaker Bay.

“Good afternoon, director.” The empress rose straight up from the small beach of water situated within Veza’s home. Two bodyguards rose alongside with her, but did not proceed to the shore, where Veza reclined on a small cot. “No, please stay put. “She raised a single tentacle when Veza made to stand and bow. "The faster you recover, the sooner we will enjoy your hale and hearty company.”

“Did…did I say I was sick?" 

"You didn’t have to.” Llawan took a chest from one of the guards, and waved them away. “Come when I call. We are not to be disturbed until then.” The guards retreated from the shallows, and disappeared beneath the waves.

“My lady-”

“Please, director.” Llawan clicked her beak and began to rummage through the chest. “‘Llawan’ will do. I should think you are close enough to us by now.“

Veza allowed herself a small smile. “‘Director’ isn’t much of an endearment either.” She watched the empress carefully. Veza had picked up a lot of cephalid body language in her life, but Llawan was as composed as sea-dwellers came. Still, Veza was determined to catch some flutter of embarrassment from her one of these days.

Llawan just laughed, a light, soothing clicking sound. She produced a small sac, like an inflated jellyfish, and pressed it to Veza’s forehead. It was wonderfully cool, and pulsed slightly, massaging her scalp.

“My lad-Llawan…the vodalians-”

“Were more than delighted with the proposal you drafted. We hardly had to do more than grace them with our royal presence and the agreement was sealed. Marvelous work as always, Veza.” Llawan produced more items from the chest. A small vial of coconut and eel extract, which she rubbed under Veza’s nose, helping to clear up some of the congestion. A pot of oily paste that she rubbed on Veza’s scales, helping to ease the chills. A small seaweed-wrapped bundle of sweet candied urchins, which she had somehow discovered were Veza’s favorite.

“Would you like soup?” Llawan rummaged through the rest of the chest, clicking uncertainly. “Laquatus told me once that you surface dwellers enjoy hot refreshments when recovering, but obviously I can’t take anything that eel ever said at face value.”

“Soup would be lovely, but perhaps later.” Veza sneezed, and coughed up a bit of phlegm into a bucket by the cut. Colds were especially terrible with the sort of complex respiratory system needed to survive both on land and in the sea. “Can you…can you stay awhile? I wouldn’t want to impose…”

“I’m yours for the day.” A tentacle slipped through Llawan’s sleeve and slid over Veza’s brow. “Goodness you’re warm. Perhaps I should tell my guards to return on the morrow…”

Veza glanced out into the bay. They were reasonably sheltered from view here, and most any wouldn’t know Llawan as the empress of most of the waters around Otaria, but if her guards came back at an inopportune moment…gossip spread fast in the courts beneath the waves, and Llawan’s current hold on the throne was by no means unchallengeable.

“They already know.” Llawan stroked Veza’s cheek with the same tentacle that was taking her temperature. “I’m not paranoid like Aboshan was. I _do_ take trusted subordinates into my confidences.”

“Oh? I wouldn’t know anything about that.” Veza grinned, as mischievously as a small fit of coughing would allow, and lay a hand on the empress’ face, just below her eye.

Llawan blinked, something Veza has almost never seen a cephalid do, and turned away, ever so slightly.  Almost like…

“We do not consider you a subordinate, Veza.” The empress paused. “A good subordinate would not have left a lavish post as the personal hand of the empress to return to an isolated stretch of water against explicit orders. The empress could hardly have allowed a _subordinate_ to do such a thing.” She produced a small sapphire, and touched it to the water in the shallows. A small waterspout swept up onto the ground and formed into a swirling chair. A throne in miniature. Llawan reclined back into it, right by the head of Veza’s cot.

“What then, if not a subordinate?”

“An esteemed peer. One whose insight I value.” Llawan looked around Veza’s home. “After all, this portion of the bay is not, strictly speaking, part of the empire.”

Veza reached out and took another of Llawan’s tentacles, wrapping it slowly around her arm. The cool, softness of it was soothing.

“Thank you for being so understanding with my lodgings. The deeper seas…they don’t bother me as much now, but it helps to have somewhere familiar to come back to.” Veza trailed off. Llawan was silent for a moment, running her tentacles over Veza’s face and shoulders. When she finally spoke, it was uncharacteristically slow and deliberate.

“It means more to us that you are comfortable. We forsook you once. It will not happen again.”

Veza was glad for the cold, and not just for giving the empress a reason to come. With the already-deep flush from the fever, and the cool compress laid across her brow, Llawan would not be able to see Veza blush.

_The above is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC._


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